Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is ranked in the top ten most followed leaders on Twitter.

The UAE Prime Minister, who uses the Twitter account name @hhshkmohd, comes in at number nine on the top 50 list, with close to three million followers, according to Burson-Marsteller’s Twiplomacy study 2014, an annual global study looking at the use of Twitter by heads of state and government and ministers of foreign affairs.

Twitter is growing in popularity, with many of the world leaders choosing the social network to make key announcements.

Sheikh Mohammed is particularly active on Twitter, with an average of 6 tweets per day (predominantly through his iPhone) about new initiatives, humanitarian work, and as well as announcements of major government changes. He also tweets in both Arabic and English, thereby maximising his reach.

Within weeks of his election, India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s account (@NarendraModi) moved into the top four most followed Twitter accounts of world leaders with close to five million followers.

Top of the list is Barack Obama (@BarackObama) with over 43 million followers, three times the number of Pope Francis (@Pontifex). Third on the list is the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, while fourth is The White House’s official Twitter account (@thewhitehouse)

Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s minister for foreign affairs, is placed at number 25 on the list, while Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, is at number 30.

Interestingly, Spanish is the most tweeted language (32 percent) among the world leaders, closely followed by English (28 percent). Arabic is the fourth highest, at 4.97 percent, closely behind French (6.74 percent).

The study identifies 643 Twitter accounts of heads of state and government, foreign ministers and their institutions in 161 countries worldwide. The data was collected during June 2014.